The roar of the nonexistent flames surging into her ears was unbearable. Although she figured the blunt of the sound could only be heard by her due to the lack of turning heads among the crowd, she couldn't help but look around to check from time to time to see if anybody was trying to grab a fire extinguisher. Though, soon, her eyes wandered down, catching sight of a blindingly bright pink glow shining from the girl's pantleg. The sudden dizziness building in her head caused Alexa to sway ever so slightly and clutch at her head. "N-..No, no! M-..my hand's... fine... O-..ok maybe n-..not... just-- Don't laugh at what I'm about to show you..." She huffed, "If you promise not to scream or think I'm crazy..." Slowly, she reached down a shaky hand to remove her glove. The burning was unbearable, and she couldn't believe that her hoodie wasn't combusting by now. With a flick of her hand, the article was removed, and she thrust her seal-branded hand directly into the girl's palm. "BEHOLD--"

Little did she know, she had no idea what happened when two young girls with astrals from the same world collided... Once could say, she dun' goof'd.

Although Alexa knew it probably wasn't best for her to intrude on other people's things, she was-- secretly about as fascinated in little sketches or doodles as videos games... which is a LOT, mind you... despite her lacking of any real artistic talent. "A-ah, sweet! What'cha drawin', there?" She piped up enthusiastically as she scooted closer, attempting to get a better look at the other's sketchbook. Though, the closer she got, the more the back of her hand heated up, until she could've sworn it was about to burst on fire.. even moreso than when she was at the sparring terminal. Hoping that the bustle of the daily crowd would drown out the energy humming from her hand, her eyes fell upon the drawing of a... weird...bunny girl...? Okay, it-- "Ah-- that's pretty cute did you draw that yourse--" Suddenly, out of the blue, the melodious tone emitting from her glove began to pulse, crescendoing into a fiery shriek. At this, she quickly shied away, patting the back of her hand as though she was trying to calm it down. "S-...s-so so sorry!" The girl yelped, wondering why her damn hand was making such a ruckus.

Alexa paused, grimacing slightly as she stared at the back of her hand. Even though she had the slightest twinge of joy in her heart after knowing that she had won the battle, something clearly just wasn't sitting right with her. "Uh-- excuse me, uh-- Aaron!" She finally managed to raise her shaky voice a little, the unease now visible in her cloudy amber orbs. "Quick question..." After a long pause, the blonde took a deep breath, shaking the sleeves of her hoodie slightly before speaking up once more. Sheepishly scratching at the back of her head, her gaze shifted off to the side. "Did... you guys get any weird flashing images like a silent movie when you went into the machine? Uh-... that... kinda looked like those Astral dreams? And-- furthermore... Um-- uh... how do I put it..." Whining nervously, she scoured her thoughts for the best word choice she could manage. Looking left and right, she scooted forward and lowered her voice to a near-whisper, as if afraid that her next phrase would bring havoc upon the hotel. "Did...any of you guys hear a voice like your own...trying to talk to you...?"

Ha! Oh, what a show! The tiny monkey dancing about caused her to roar into laughter, nearly enough to rock her straight out of her chair. Carcinus swayed left and right, before wildly jabbing its front set of legs about in hopes to hit the target...that she did not yet know was the right target "Oh--...Good god, you're so tiny!" Alexa snorted. Though, on the upper screen, she soon squinted her eyes once she caught sight of...a bird? The scritching of the metal roof above her head was nearly too much to bear. However, was she was NOT expecting was for the hatch to suddenly fly open. Whipping about in her chair, she got up to her feet, trying to catch sight of the intruder through the dim red light of the room. "Oh, COME ON!"

With a series of clicks, the twin drones ended their shooting, tilting up to look at Alexa intently, and whistling as they waited for their next command. Though, she said nothing as the bullet-ridden mare's body dissolved into wisps of energy. The she stood, watching them waft up, up, up into the sky, fading into nothingness. However, just as she saluted up to the sky, she became aware of the roaring flames once more. Unaware what her drones were fireproof, she swooped up once under each arm, making a dash off into the... non-flame-riddled woods. With fire licking at her heels, she zig-zagged through the woods until she came across a rocky clearing. Here, she hoped would be safe from the blaze for a while. "Well I'll be..." she huffed, setting the twin drones down. They scuttled about for a few moments, before going into what seemed to be a wee bit of a 'standby' mode. "How many bullets even are in these things?" Alexa kneeled down to one of the drones, attempting to pry a plate to see what was inside. The drone kicked about and hissed in disapproval, squirming away from her mighty grasp and heading back to patrolling the area.

When she least expected it, a mighty boom shook the earth, a buzz of shattered energy hummed through her mind, gargantuan claws clutching at the earth in an attempt to keep herself from toppling over, she looked over to see more wisps of energy curling up into the sky from the treeline. Yet, the buzz that signified the enemy was still there, which meant-- "FRIEND!!" she cried out, only to clap a hand over her mouth as the massive cloud of dust settled upon her... and so did the realization... the monkey man was still alive. Sure, her antennae weren't entirely accurate on that monkey man's current location... but, why not? It was all a game after all, right? Shrugging her shoulders, she followed the buzz inside of her cranium towards the monkey man's location. She thought back to when the flames touched her heels yet didn't sting whatsoever.. maybe...she was..fireproof?

Just then, she pulled something... a little crazy. You could slap 'Stayin' Alive' over this next scene as she strolled though the forest to a funky beat in her head, slashing her arms left and right and deliberately throwing fire in the direction of random trees once she felt the buzz inside her head get at its loudest, meaning that Aaron's astral was nearby. Next, the two drones hopped up onto her shoulders, staying put like two perched birds. With a whistle, she waved towards Wukong. "OY! Monkey butt!" She hollered towards the weakened astral. "How well can you...dance?" curling her fingers to beckon her opponent forward, her drones hopped down from her shoulders, skittering about rapidly into the bushes, moving about in erratic patterns. Occasionally, one or two would leap upwards from the bush, as if trying to taunt Aaron. "Because... baby, I'm on FIRE!" Alexa grinned as she held her arms out to the sides, jets of fire shooting up like blowtorches from the vents on her forearms.

Her antennae flicked from side to side as a new sound reached her ears... the roar of a... jet engine? Quickly coming out from behind the tree, her thoughts began to race... What should she do what could she do? In a matter of seconds, she would be reduced to nothing more than a fine mist! Frozen in fear, she began to quiver and quake, as though her very blood ran cold... her very life-- no, every experience she had ever had in the arena flashed before her eyes in that very moment, and now it was all going to end... was she really just a little, useless brat after all this time.. and nothing more...?

Wait... the very first thing she did once she arrived in the arena... she still had a chance...!

With every once of strength she could muster, she slammed her massive fists upon the ground. The earth split along in a straight line, a series of massive rocks shooting up from the cracks in varying heights from largest to smallest. If everything went as expected and the pony could only travel in a straight line due to her incredible speed, this was it! her moment of genius! As fast as her legs could carry her, Alexa diverolled out of the way, springing up and beginning to run off into the forest once more. Without a doubt, travelling at the speed of light would most certainly cause a lot of damage to her opponent upon impact! Certainly, she may be able to punch through one rock with all that strength, so using one as a shield wouldn't be wise.. but could she punch through 16 more of them?

The astral grinned as she ran, ran, ran further into the forest, leaving the scene behind. She knew deep down inside, even if the pegasus managed to survive the impact by some wicked miracle of black magic... something waited for her at ground level. Deep within the bushes, the gun barrels of two drones began to whir...

At this, the white-pupiled astral roared into laughter, another puff of flame shooting out from her gauntlets, as though taunting Rainbow Dash. "If it's a duel you're looking for, then why don'cha come and get me already, you big blue buffoon? I'm waitin' for ya, and I haven't got all day!" The blonde called from across the clearing, intently eyeing the glowing plumes of smoke in the distance before returning her gaze to the pony. "What's the matter, ya scared of the big ol' flaming hands of death?" She gave her gauntlets a little shake to emphasize her point, the soot-stained metal rattling. "You ain't ready to... feel the burn?" Now, if she could just buy a little more time...

No, no! This was not part of the plan at all! Then again-- was there really any plan to begin with? Within no time at all after the boy had fired the massive laser, she heard a rustling far off in the distance... and then.. felt a buzzing in her head, as though an electric toothbrush was scrubbing at her brain from inside her head. "Wh-...What is this--?!" Alexa growled under her breath, hands clutching at her antennae and holding them down. Well, that seemed to negate the effects of that weird, pinpoint of a weird vibration... It was sorta the same feeling she got whenever the silhouettes the drones recorded pulsed into the back of her head, but.. annoyingly continuous. With a groan of infuriation, she stepped back... the buzz was getting stronger, eventually feeling like it was directly in front of her...

...Then came the screeching. Just when she thought the 'nails on a chalkboard' moment couldn't get any worse. Her gaze swiftly panned skywards. Through the thick mist, she just barely managed to make out the shape of... a stick? The buzzing grew louder, as though screaming at her to get out of the way-- which she promptly did. Not knowing which way to go, she simply ran in a direction away from the pole, then swinging away from a blue hoof in the nick of time, disappearing into the fog through the thick path of folliage. Twigs snapped, leaves rustled, a soft orange glow began to build in intensity on the horizon... The backs of her hands burned like her mark did back at the terminal, for reasons she did not know why. Screeching to a halt to catch her breath, she plunked herself down by a boulder. Waiting for her exhaustion to subside, she winced and covered her face with a shaky hand as a bolt of orange energy zipped between branches, crawling back into her shell. The voice in her head returned... 's c r a p  m e t a l.' Just then, things began to make marginally more sense. Remembering the jerky movements of her hands performing actions on their own from the beginning of the match, she pressed in a button on her left shoulderplate, her shell creaking open to reveal... a part set for a new drone...?

She closed her eyes, feeling a very faint 'thump' at the back of her head that assured her that her second drone was still on the field... This may make things interesting. Nonetheless, she got to work on making a new drone to replace the destroyed one. To what may look like a complex piece of work, it somehow all felt like a four-piece puzzle to her. Giving her finished work a tap with her foot, it popped open, giving a friendly little whistle before skittering off to hide amongst the bushes. Ahh, she'd never get tired of that silvery little sound. "Now, what else can I build..." She lightly scritched at her chin with an orange-tipped metal glove, before-- 'claws.' "Wh--" 'c l a w s.' "What d--" 'D o t h e c l a w t h i n g' "What claw thi--" 'H U R R Y!' She felt dizzy in the midst of arguing with the weird little voice in her head, as though her soul was about to float out of her body. Getting ahold of herself once more, she swung her arms out. "WHAT CLAW THING?!" She roared, swinging her arms out to the side.. then, suddenly... the loud groaning of metal plates rung in her ears. Coursing up her arms, a raging torrent of fire shot out from her hands, crawling up her limbs ember by ember. Each finger became a menacing claw, and shadowy metal bloomed forth from the blaze. Before she knew it, one could say that she had gotten herself a pretty sweet set of giant honkin' gauntlets. "...Dude..." 'd u d e.' Taking a moment to marvel over the monstrous metal masterpiece as she looked down at her palms, she soon realized the threat at hand... a-- did she just almost get attacked by a flying blue horse? Was that the same one that fell from the sky like a bloody idiot? A new spark of confidence kindling in her heart, she sat down and waited...